"Eleven. I was just buggin' then. Ain't really start heavily into it until '85. That's when I met Raekwon."

Do you remember the first thing you wrote?

"First thing that I wrote and actually kept was this joint called "I'm On A Mission". That was around the time that Doug E. Fresh's "The Show" was out. Everything was like, "I'm on a mission", that was like the slang that year. It was around '86. That was a bugged-out joint."

What are heads out there gonna notice when they compare the sh-- you did on the Wu LP to this new sh-- you servin' us?

"I'mma tell you like this, man, n----- is gonna be buggin' 'cause it's like I'm strapped in a psychiatrist's chair and they gonna have their own different view of what's going on in my head. That's all that's down, is sh-- that's going on in my head. My head is always constantly on some sh--. I mean, I could be here one day, and on the planet Uranus the next day. Not actually being there, ya know, but mentally that's where my thoughts could be."

Your new material is some "ol' Vietnam" sounding sh--. I mean, it's got bombs and sh-- going off In the background, not at all like the party groove of your "Method Man" single. It sounded almost like your mind's trapped in a dungeon or something--what's going on in your head? What kind of thoughts are trapped In there?

"It's like whatever type of food the RZA come with at that time I've gotta adapt to that meal. It's like he's coming at me with different types of weather and it's putting me in certain kinds of moods. Or my rhymes could do the same for him as far as beat-wise, so we both act off each other. It's like cause and effect."

Do you think smokin' buddah helps enhance your flow?

"Naah, but it's part of it, though. I smoke because I like to get high. It's like, I'm set in my ways now. I've been doing this since I was a shortie, and now it's part of my lifestyle."

Will the Wu-Tang Clan continue to do albums together?

"Yeah, the next Wu album should be out by late '95. Right now it's like extracurricular activities while we ride on this Wu-Tang album."

Any sense of competition among y'all while you're doing your solo projects?

"Naw man, but there's always competition as far as battling for beats and sh-- like that, hell, yeah. When you come to the table with your sh-- in front of your peoples, there's always conflict. When you wear a certain thing on the block or you go to a party and you out with your n----- and you wearin' a certain thing you know there's gonna be a certain type of questioning to it. Somebody gonna question it somewhere along the line, but it's up to you to come up and say, 'Yo man, f--- that. I don't give a f--- what you talkin' about, I think I look good.'"

What's goin' on with Staten Island right now? There's a lot of butter sh-- comin' outta there--is there some sh-- goin' on there that we don't know about yet?

"In a way, yeah. They slept on Staten Island for a long time. Now we just showin' and provin' that there's a ghetto everywhere you go. No matter where you from, there's ghettos all over the place. Staten Island, the reason we wasn't really known was 'cause most of us didn't get across the water. There was people from Staten Island that was representin' across the water, but half of them was saying that they was from Brooklyn. Also, Staten Island hasn't really been known for any big parties, except for maybe two or three times. All in all we had to, like, lick a shot at everyone else just to let them know we in here."

What was a typical day like for you before the Wu album came out?

"On the block in front of one-sixty, mindin' everybody else's business and my own."

"That I could sleep past noon, ya know? No more havin' to get up and bust my ass for somebody. Now I could bust my ass when I want to and it's makin' me incredible amounts of green."

What's the worst thing?

"When people demand sh--, like people actually come up to me and act like I owe 'em something. People I never met in my life, talkin' 'bout, 'You gotta sign this for me.' I just met 'em once and now they callin' me by my real name and wanna give me hugs 'n' sh--. That sh-- is wack."

What kinda goals you got?

"My own label. I wanna sit behind the scenes and see nothin' but the greens. I wanna run sh-- from behind there."

Are there gonna be any guest appearances on this album?

"Naw, not on this one. Just Wu-Tang n----- and n----- from the block. I didn't really wanna go for no gimmicks or nothin'. Rap is a gimmick, but I'm for the hip-hop, the culture. It is the backbone of all this sh--, and rap 'n' all this other bulish-- wouldn't be able to stand up without it."